WitchHunters
by BlueDragon123
Summary: Merlin Emrys was totally unaware of his importance to the 21st century magical struggle until he met Arthur. Then his safe world crumbled. But is he ready for this new world? Rated T for mild swearing and violence Merlin/Arthur
1. Chapter 1

**Warning: Full of slashy goodness. If you don't like that, I'm curious as to why you clicked on it.**

**Rated T for violence and mild swearing.**

**Enjoy**

**-Blue**

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**Chapter 1: The Angel and The Demon**

"My life sucks," Merlin thought to himself as he left school. This wasn't an original thought, he mused. Most kids thought this. For them it was because they weren't doing that well in class or because they were being bullied or because outside of school their life was slowly turning to shit.

For Merlin it was a combination of all of them.

His mum was in hospital after she was attacked in the streets while he was at school. She had been so brutally beaten that she had fallen into a deep coma which she refused to wake up from. All the doctors agreed that it was unlikely she would ever wake up again. Merlin had cried for two days and then locked himself in his room for two more. It was lucky that his legal guardian was Gaius because he was the one who finally managed to break out of his deep, black funk with some encouraging words about medical miracles. Merlin suspected that half of these stories were lies but he loved him for trying. He just really missed his mother.

When Mordred had come to their school two months ago Merlin had felt sorry for him. He had looked so awkward and alone. Within twenty-four hours he wasn't feeling sorry for him anymore. Mordred had managed to somehow build up a gang of muscled teenagers by lunch. After school he had grabbed Merlin by the collar and preceded to laugh while his new found friends pummelled every piece of the gangly teen they could swing at. It wasn't because they hated him or anything; it was for the pure enjoyment of watching someone weaker than themselves begging for them to stop. After a while, Merlin learned to keep his mouth shut. There was no point in shouting or pleading. Mordred had everyone twisted around his little finger.

Everyone.

Even the teachers.

Even his girlfriend, Freya.

Merlin sighed and then flinched as his back pack brushed against several bruises. He liked Freya. They had only known each other for about a year. They had only been friends for a week, but then they both decided they wanted something more. Most of the time after that had been spent snogging each other. They had wasted time to catch up on the week they had missed. It had been a paradise, especially after having no real friends after so long and Merlin had relished every second they had spent together. He had been good friends with Will in Ealdor but ever since his mother had gotten a job in London, he and Will had slowly lost contact.

But ever since Mordred had started at his school, Freya had started to become less and less interested in Merlin.

Then finally a week ago she had dumped him in front of the entire Maths class and then gone to sit next to Mordred who put an arm around her and grinned evilly at Merlin.

The lesson had been made even less enjoyable by the fact that he had to explain to the Maths teacher that he had lost his books and he needed to borrow another copy. Again. Merlin was aware that it was probably Mordred and his gang were the ones that were taking his books but he couldn't prove it.

Merlin missed having his mum to talk too. Gaius was nice but Merlin didn't really feel close enough to him to start opening up.

Something slammed Merlin into a wall so hard that it broke him out of his reverie. He crumpled to the floor and just sat there. For a second, he couldn't even be bothered to look up to see what had hit him.

When he did, he saw...nothing.

There was nobody on the streets. The roads were empty of cars. Even the building behind him was strangely quiet. The whole place was devoid of life and Merlin felt a prickling on the back of his neck that told him that he was in trouble.

He got up but was slammed back into the brick wall again. Merlin felt like his whole body was on fire as every cut and bruise, old or new, started to give off so much pain that it felt like his whole body was on fire. He screamed in pain. This time he could still feel the energy pushing him into the brick work, pinning his arms to his sides and holding his neck firmly in place. The invisible force pushed down on his shoulders forcing him into a crouching position that made his knees burn. If he looked closely, Merlin was sure that he could see something like the shimmer of heat you see over a fire. Merlin tried to push himself away from the wall but failed. He kept on trying and pushing until he ran out of energy. Then he heard someone laughing. A very familiar laugh.

"Mordred!" Merlin snarled. Mordred appeared next to him as if from nowhere grinning at him like a homicidal Cheshire Cat. Merlin gulped. Something about the way Mordred looked made him feel more scared than usual. Maybe it was the fact that for once, Merlin was at eye level with him.

"Hello, Merlin," said Mordred, hissing slightly as he sat cross legged in the road. "How nice to see you. You know the teachers were awfully mad when you cut class early. That wasn't because of me and my friends was it?" Merlin thought that Mordred's face was going to split in half if his grin grew anymore. "I'm so disappointed in you, Merlin. You haven't even put up a fight. You haven't done anything to try and stop me. It's all been to easy and rather boring."

Merlin ignored him, trying to fight against the gigantic energy block grinding his ribs into powder. "What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" Merlin gasped. "Where's. Everyone?" Mordred got up, his smile dimming a little.

"I got rid of everyone for a little while," said Mordred, casually reaching out with his hand. Red hot pain shot into Merlin's shoulder causing him to drop his raggedy, blue backpack onto the ground. Merlin didn't scream this time but the shock must have shown because Mordred seemed all the happier, "I wanted to talk to you in private. And as you can see with my amount of power it was so easy."

Then Mordred stopped smiling and the stern look of someone much older dominated his face, "You, Merlin, have been a giant thorn in my side. And I can't have that anymore."Merlin had no idea what Mordred was talking about but Merlin saw something glint in Mordred's hand and saw Mordred pull out a small knife.

"Mordred's insane. I'm going to die," thought Merlin. He started to sweat. Merlin pushed against the energy block hard. Nothing budged. Mordred was only a few metres away.

"Please stop fighting," said Mordred, "It's hard to watch. If I loosen the bonds a little will you stop fighting?" Merlin had no idea what he was talking about but the pressure on his chest lessened a bit meaning that he could breathe again. He pulled air down his lungs like a drowning man. Mordred looked at him curiously. "Strange," he said, almost like he'd forgotten Merlin was there. Merlin didn't care as long as he could breathe again. He pushed his right arm experimentally against the barrier. It was like poking iron. Merlin stopped moving, not fully understanding what the hell was going on but not wanting to make it worse somehow.

"What do you want?" he asked and Mordred looked at him curiously. Then Mordred took two steps forward and slashed through Merlin's jumper.

"I want you to beg," he said, and he wasn't smiling anymore. Merlin couldn't look down to see what had happened to his woollen jumper but he could feel the cold draft getting in through his t-shirt. Merlin started to shake in fear. This guy was a psychopath. Merlin started struggling again but the bonds came crushing down on him like a ton of bricks. Unable to breathe and faced with a nutter with a knife, Merlin wanted to scream and run but forced him to focus all his energy into struggling.

Mordred put his hand onto Merlin's chest and pushed him back with surprising strength. The part of Merlin that was still functioning wondered how he had gotten past the energy field. The invisible ties on Merlin's neck disappeared allowing him to look down. Merlin looked into Mordred's eyes and saw that they were an amber colour. Merlin shirked away from Mordred's touch like a startled foal, unable to go anywhere. Mordred smirked.

"You haven't been saying anything during our little meeting recently," he said, and it took a moment for Merlin to realise he meant the beatings. "So before you die, I want you to make you for lost time." The sound of tearing material filled the air as Mordred cut through Merlin's white school shirt with his little knife. Merlin felt the cool edge of the blade against his skin, leaving a small line of pain.

Mordred looked down and then touched the exposed flesh with his free hand. Merlin was incredibly skinny and Mordred seemed to be having great fun running his hand up and down Merlin's ribs like some kind of sick xylophone. Mordred looked up into Merlin's eyes. Invisible bonds snapped around his head holding him in place so that he couldn't look away from Mordred's intense, amber glare. Mordred took a step closer so that their bodies were pressed together. Mordred's face was so close to Merlin's that it made Merlin blush. He immediately wished he hadn't done that because Mordred seemed to find it amusing. Mordred ran his hand over the glowing cheek, watching his pale white fingers as they slowly trailed their way over Merlin's cheek.

"You are so..." Mordred groaned, "Merlin. I think just this once I'll give into temptation." Merlin felt Mordred run a blade over his exposed stomach. Mordred moved his face closer to Merlin's, inching slowly and painfully. Merlin tried to move his head but couldn't. He felt like he was going to be sick. Cold sweat had broken out all over his body.

"Please," Merlin grunted. "Don't." Mordred suddenly grabbed Merlin's face with both hands. The knife handle stuck out from one of his sleeves. The look on Mordred's face was that of a maniac.

"I've been waiting a long time to say this, Merlin," he said, "Make me."

Then there was an unexpected sound. A van shot down the road like a bat out of hell being chased by the hounds.

Time slowed down or at least that was how it seemed to Merlin. He watched as the eerie glow faded from Mordred's eyes. He felt his arms stretching out. He saw the sliver knife in Mordred's hands pull back slightly as he prepared to stab Merlin.

But above all, Merlin saw an angel. Interestingly, the angel was getting out of the van. But the angel was so awe inspiring Merlin was sure that it was there to wish him goodbye before he died. The angel wasn't dressed in white, but in a black t-shirt, black trousers and black sneakers. The angel had blonde hair, so blonde in fact that it seemed to radiate light, with blue eyes like the deepest part of a lake. The look on its face could only be described as divine fury.

Then a gunshot rang out and time sped up again. Mordred's knife fell out of his hand with a flash of blue light and fell onto Merlin's school shoes. Mordred looked comically from Merlin to a girl that he hadn't spotted coming out of the other side of the van that was holding out a silvery gun. The look on his face was so comical that Merlin half-expected him to say 'Curses' and twiddle with a long curly moustache. The girl flicked her long black hair behind her shoulder and raised the gun again.

She said something but Merlin couldn't understand it. Suddenly he felt like he was underwater. Mordred looked back at him, grinned and then disappeared into thin air. Merlin's only thought was that Mordred would have been great at children's parties. The girl started to rush over to him but the angel reached him first.

Merlin felt his knee's buckle and waited for his head to hit the pavement with a crunch. But the angel caught him and softly laid him down on the floor. The girl checked him over to see if he had any injuries and as Merlin felt his consciousness slipping away, he saw the angel smile down at him. It filled him with a kind of energy that he had never felt before which was ironic because with his next breath, Merlin passed out.

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**Review?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Warning: Full of slashy goodness. If you don't like that, I'm curious as to why you clicked on it.**

**Rated T for violence and mild swearing.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin. If I did there would be some script alterations lol**

Thanks to **rencarnatedfreya, mesodontask, socalrose, momentshaveyou and Dramastar-Mel **for reviewing my little story with especcially big thanks to **Enchantress123 **who has decided to give this pairing a go.

**Enjoy**

**-Blue**

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**Chapter 2: The Magic Words**

Merlin woke up in the back of a van, his bag slung next to him. It was dark but there was a crack in the door that allowed light in. He feel van moving. Around him were various pieces of oddly shaped metal; mostly sword hilts and round disks with leather strips attached to one side. One particular oddity kept his gaze: a blue cylinder. He was about to watch out for it when the whole world leaned to the left.

Merlin fell head over heels into the side of the van and everything else fell onto him including his bag which contained two kilos of homework. His bruises and cuts flared with indignation and his head hurt like someone was trying to break out of his head with a hammer. And if this crazy driving kept up he was going to be sick.

"Arthur, careful. That kid has had a bad enough day today. Do you really think going at top speed is going to make him feel any better?"

Merlin wondered who the girl in the front was talking about. Then he remembered. He looked down to see that his tattered shirt had been replaced with a cooler looking black t-shirt. Like his rescuers had been wearing.

"Relax, Morgana, he's probably still fast asleep. As long as he doesn't ruin everything by waking up he'll be fine." Merlin groaned. His life was in the hands of this guy! He was as good as dead.

"You hear something?"

"Yes, the sound of you getting worked up over nothing. Look, Mordred disappeared and the kid is fine whoever he is. We just take him back to base for a healing session and then we take him back to his home. Simple."

"Arthur, you know as well as I do that Nimueh doesn't just let Mordred out for no reason. And there's something about this guy- "

"Yeah, he's cute and you want him to hang around longer so you can get your claws into him." Merlin blushed in the darkness.

"And you don't?"

"Not really. The sooner he's gone the better." Merlin felt hurt. What did this guy know anyway? He sounded like a royal prat.

"It's not just that he's cute. And he is even if you're too big of a moron to admit it." Morgana paused. "I can't explain it. There's something about him which makes me think that we're missing some vital information."

"Have you had any visions about this guy?" asked Arthur the prat. Wait! Merlin lent against the wall that separated himself from the drivers. Had he heard that right? Visions? Oh god, he had been kidnapped by crazy people.

"Maybe. They've all been a bit fuzzy lately, like something important needs to happen first."

"I think that you're over complicating things here. Still if you think something's wrong we could keep him a bit longer-"

"Is this your way of admitting that I'm right? Or that he's cute? Or both?" Merlin could actually feel the smugness radiating through the wall. Suddenly all he could hear was pop music. It took him a while to figure out that Arthur had turned up the radio.

Merlin lent back against the wall and braced himself against it using his long legs to hold his body in place. He felt like crap and was sure that if Arthur kept driving at the pace he was now; Merlin was going to be sick all over the weird metal things.

He picked up the strange cylinder from before and tossed it from hand to hand. He thought back to the strange incident with Mordred. The fear and the pain that he had felt. The strange energy barrier that shimmered like a heat haze. Mordred's amber eyes. The look on the blonde boy's face as he saw Merlin and Mordred. With a jolt, Merlin realised that blonde kid must have be the Arthur that was driving the van.

Maybe they weren't crazy. And even if they were it might be worth sticking around to see Arthur again.

At that precise moment, the van swerved so hard that Merlin had to fight to keep his lunch where it was. He thought about banging against the wall to remind them they had a living thing in the back but decided against it. He looked down at the pale blue cylinder in his hands.

"I wonder what you do," he said out loud and as if these were the magic words the van screeched to a violent stop and the loud music shut off. Merlin shot forward into the doors in a tight forward roll, through the doors and onto the pavement. His backpack slipped out next to him along with one of the sword hilts and two of the round discs.

Merlin hissed in pain. Grabbing his backpack, he thought about making a run for it when he heard Arthur say something. His blood froze.

"Get out of the way, Mordred." Merlin looked around. Conveniently on his left was a dark alleyway where he could escape. Merlin didn't even think about. Crawling on his belly over the tarmac, he hid under the van, peeking out from underneath the shadows to see two pairs of familiar black sneakers in front of him.

Behind them were the black leather school shoes of Mordred and two other pairs of feet that he couldn't account for. It could be his minions from school but Merlin couldn't be sure.

"Now, now Arthur, let's be reasonable," Mordred purred, the poster boy for evil boy genii. "All we want is the boy. Then we'll leave your little organisation in peace."

There wasn't even a slight pause before Morgana said, "And when we say no?"

"Then we take him by force." Merlin felt his whole body go rigid with rage. What had he done to this little brat to make him hate him so much?

Then there was the sound of the back doors to the van being opened. Both Arthur and Morgana gasped in surprise. One pair of sneakers disappeared.

"Mordred, you evil little prick." That was definitely Morgana at the front of the van which meant that it must have been Arthur who had tried to rush to his rescue. A gigantic pair of brown loafers ran over to Mordred.

"Sir, he's gone."

There was a flare of electricity in the air, the kind of feeling that people get before a storm comes and rips of the roofs of houses. "What do you mean that he gone?" It was amazing how much malice Mordred managed to put into his voice. Every hair on Merlin's body reached for the sky.

Arthur's shoes reappeared. "Too bad," said Arthur. "I guess you're going to have to leave now." Arthur sounded so smug that Merlin started to feel a little annoyed with him. Surely egging on the enemy wasn't the smartest thing to do in this situation!

"Where is he?" shouted Mordred, sounding like an eight year old brat, "I found him first. He's mine. What have you done with him?"

"First of all," began Morgana coolly, "Stop shouting, it's giving me a headache. And even if we knew where he was do you think we would give him to you because you said you saw him first. What are you: a pre-schooler?" Merlin was torn between slapping her and punching the air. Mordred had just got verbally thrown but shouldn't both of these guys know better than to antagonise this kid?

"Give him to me."

"Well since you asked so nicely."

"Give! Him! To! Me!"

"More shouting. Fantastic. Look we don't have him. We don't know where he is. So now you can just leave or we're going to have to move you." There was a flash of blue light. Merlin couldn't see what was going on but Mordred and his party didn't budge an inch. A shaft of blue light crept down from the top of the van. Merlin guessed that the light was coming from something that Arthur was holding. Merlin's first thought was that it must be a light sabre. Then it stopped growing and finished with a point making it look like the tip of a sword. A light sabre sword!

Whoever Arthur and Morgana were at least they had some cool tech.

Mordred didn't seem to agree.

"How pitiful," he said, "Do you really think that your little sword can withstand my level of magic?" Nobody said anything. Merlin broke out into a sweat. He had to do something. But what?

Merlin edged his way out from under the van and stood up in the shadow of the van. No one had seen him. The scene before him was so surreal he was tempted to pinch himself.

Mordred was surrounded by a group of large hulking men who looked like they ate Mordred's for breakfast. They were all grinning eagerly at the two people in front of the van. Although Merlin could only see the back of the van people, they were both obviously very good looking by any ones standards. Arthur (who Merlin knew because of his almost luminous blonde hair) was holding up the blue light sabre sword that Merlin had seen before. Morgana was holding a cylinder identical to the one Merlin had seen. Before his eyes, it lengthened swirling into a bright blue staff covered in blue lines that pulsed slightly with the same energy that Arthur's sword had been made of.

Mordred's eyes glowed amber and the air around them turned into a violent wind threatening to pick Merlin up like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Lightning cracked over head. Merlin's hands flew to the wooden bracelet that his mother had given him when he was six. It was a sort of good luck charm and he needed it to help him think.

Then something terrible happened: the bracelet's string that was holding it together snapped with a loud twang. Suddenly everyone's eyes were on Merlin. Mordred's face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"So you have no idea where he is, huh?" Merlin looked to Morgana and Arthur for help. Both were staring at him. Then Morgana raised her staff and a thick mist curled out of it and onto the roads.

"Run," she screamed at Merlin but Mordred simply directed the violent storm to sweep away the mist within seconds of it being conjured. Mordred's goons began to close in on Merlin but Arthur stood in front of him and slashed his sword through the air threateningly.

"Do as Morgana says," he said. "Run." But Merlin couldn't. His legs had turned to rubber. He was so scared that he couldn't move and could only watch as Mordred's bodyguards brought out identical blue light sabre swords. They took a step towards Arthur but Mordred shouted at them to get Morgana.

"Arthur is mine," he said simply. Fire burst from Mordred's fist licking over his flesh without doing any damage. He advanced on Arthur, and although Mordred was at least two feet smaller than Arthur he was just as intimidating.

And all of a sudden, Merlin was angry.

This wasn't fair. Mordred was ruining his life again. And no one was going to hurt Arthur.

Especially not that evil little midget.

Merlin could never really explain why he did what he did next. Gwen thought it was because he desperately wanted to help Arthur. Morgana thought it could be his magical instinct. Arthur thought it was because he was being an idiot. Whatever the reason, Merlin pulled of his first piece of magic.

He looked up at the skies (which had suddenly turned black and gloomy) and then looked at Mordred. He imagined something huge falling from the sky and squashing Mordred. There was a tug in his stomach as a huge ball of hail the size of a van shot down between Mordred and Arthur blocking Mordred's path.

More and more gigantic pieces of hail fell towards Mordred and his lackies (who while Arthur and Merlin were distracted had been advancing on Morgana). Mordred looked straight at Merlin and his eyes narrowed. Then he grabbed his companions by the back of their shirts and they were gone like nothing had ever happened.

A second later, the van sized hail impacted with the tarmac leaving a gigantic crater in the road, marking that place where Mordred had been standing.

Morgana and Arthur were at a loss for words which to Merlin seemed like a first. Merlin took this opportunity to check on the bracelet his mother had given him. The string had broken right in the middle just between the first and the third block of wood.

As fast as it came the storm disappeared and the normal sunny day returned. The tug in Merlin's stomach disappeared. And so did all feeling in his body.

"Watch out," cried Morgana, "He's going to faint again." Arthur caught Merlin before he hit the road and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Who are you?" asked Arthur and as Merlin drifted away he had enough energy to say,

"Merlin." And then he blacked out. Again.

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**Thanks for reading.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Warning: Full of slashy goodness. If you don't like that, I'm curious as to why you clicked on it.**

**Rated T for violence and mild swearing.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin. If I did there would be some script alterations lol**

Thanks to **Uki465, merlinfan93, Shiny4LoVE, peanutmeg, momentshaveyou, socalrose, reincarnatedfreya and mesodontask **because you reviewed my little story which makes you awesome.

**Enjoy**

**-Blue**

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**Chapter 3: Sleep is Contagious**

Merlin's head felt better when he woke up. Still drained of energy but better than before... Merlin wasn't sure what had caused the stomach jerk but whatever it was had done a number on him. It was like none of the crazy things had happened and for a moment, Merlin lay there pretending that they hadn't. It had all been a horrible dream that was over now. Then he began to hear Arthur and Morgana arguing and he knew it couldn't have been a dream.

"He keeps on fainting on us! Why do you think that he could be of any use, Gana?"

"He's new to magic. At least it seems that way. How long did Gaius say before he wakes up?" Gaius! If Merlin was really conscious he would have shaken his head. It had to be coincidence. Or a dream. Maybe he was going to wake up any second now and just go to school like usual.

"Not long now. Did you see those bruises on his chest? Mordred is going to pay! I'm going to beat him up until he looks like the piece of filth that he is! I'll take his head and-" There was probably more to come but just then Morgana butted in.

"Calm down, Arthur. Mordred's a bastard and no-one disagrees with you. Why are you getting so worked up about this?" There was a pause. Somehow Merlin could tell that Morgana was smirking at Arthur. It was scary how well he knew them already.

"So where's Gwen?"

"Don't change the subject."

"Is she with Lance again? I swear if we glued them together people wouldn't notice the difference."

"I'm so glad that she's happy. I haven't seen her this happy since... well I've never seen her this happy before actually."

There was the sound of a door opening and a pair of footsteps. Merlin recognised the shuffle walk instantly and groaned. It hadn't been a coincidence.

"Talk about timing," cried Arthur. "I think he's waking up Gaius."

"Thank you for your help, Captain Obvious," said Morgana, sarcasm dripping from her like syrup. "C'mon, let's leave them on their own. Don't you have battle practice soon anyway?"

There were more footsteps and then the door closed. Merlin wished that they would come back. The silence that followed was more piercing than anything that they had said.

"Merlin?" Gaius said softly, shaking Merlin's shoulder. Merlin opened his eyes to see Gaius's kind face staring down at him. Merlin sat up and rubbed his eyes blearily. He definitely not at home like he had hoped. He was in a room, painted dark blue with no windows illuminated by one light bulb with a bed with a cool dragon cover (that he was lying on), a chest of drawers, a chair that Gaius was sitting on and his school bag flung in a corner.

Merlin moved to get up and his whole body refused to move. Gaius's eyebrows raised an impressive distance.

"You're not going anywhere for a while," Gaius said calmly. Gaius's grey eyes shifted from Merlin's face to his chest. Merlin looked down to see that he was now shirtless (but thankfully his trousers were still on). His network of bruises had been covered with a strange yellow paste that smelt like a wet forest.

"Where am I?" asked Merlin, surprised at how croaky his voice was. Gaius passed him a glass of water which he gulped down thirstily.

"It's difficult to explain," began Gaius. "You see, certain people in this world are blessed with magic." Gaius had never really been one to mince words. It was Merlin's turn to raise his eyebrows. But then he remembered the strange things that had happened and nodded thoughtfully. "Those people need to be watched for the protection of themselves and others. That is why, many years ago, a man started a secret branch of the government specifically devoted to the protection of magic.

"Where you are now is difficult to explain. You remember when your mother took you to see Churchill's bunker in London." Merlin nodded. "Well this is another underground bunker, not far from Churchill's actually. You're going to have to stay here for the next couple of weeks until we can properly decide what to do with you."

"What do you mean what to do with me?" said Merlin bristling. Gaius raised his hands in the traditional signal for 'Don't Blame Me I Haven't Done Anything'. Merlin sighed. "So I'm in a secret bunker for magic people. Fantastic. Hey, does that mean that Morgana and Arthur have magic as well?"

Gaius shook his head. "Morgana does. She's very adept for a girl her age. She's also a Seer which means that she has visions of the future in her sleep."

"But recently they've been a bit fuzzy?" said Merlin.

Gaius shrugged. Merlin was glad he wasn't curious enough to ask how Merlin knew that. "It isn't an exact science."

"So what is Arthur doing here if he can't do magic?"

Gaius smiled. "Arthur is the son of the man in charge of this department, Uther Pendragon. In addition, certain people like Arthur are shown to have an extraordinary resistance to magic and are therefore able to fight it."

"What about you?" asked Merlin, "Can you do magic?"

Gaius nodded. "I have a little magic, enough for Uther to want to keep me around."

Merlin looked down at the green dragon on his bed spread. He didn't know what to say. It was a lot to take in all at once. "So I'm here because you think I have magic?"

Gaius shook his head gravely. "We don't think, we know. When you were born, things around you started levitating, breaking or exploding. In the end it became so bad that we gave you that bracelet made from rowan wood." He pointed to the broken bracelet on the chest of drawers. Merlin opened his mouth to apologise but Gaius waved it away.

"Don't apologise. It was meant to break but only when you were ready to control your powers. Apparently that time was when Arthur and Morgana needed you." Merlin thought back.

"I made those huge chunks of ice fall from the sky." Gaius nodded. "But what about Mordred? Where does he fit into all of this?" Gaius scowled and his eyes flashed back to Merlin's bruises.

"That boy truly is a piece of work," Gaius said, darkly. "He belongs to an underground society that calls themselves the Druids. Their one objective is to rule the world with magic. Luckily, everyone here had managed to stop that from happening but every now and then the Druids act and somebody gets hurt."

There was a pause. Gaius's eyes clouded over and Merlin could see the look of pure anger and hate that crossed his wrinkled face. Then Gaius brought out a vial of clear liquid, his usual passive face pasted back on. "Drink this. You need sleep to heal." Merlin groaned.

"I don't want to sleep anymore. Can't I see this place first?" Gaius held out the vial. His eyebrows were so far up his face that they were mixing with his hairline. "Fine." Merlin took the vial and swallowed the potion in one gulp. It tasted vile. Merlin lay back on his pillows and looked at the dragon again. Slowly, the green faded.

Arthur was annoyed and it showed. Every one of his sparring partners was limping off to see Gaius. Wimps. Only Lance was left. Lance walked up to Arthur with a great big grin on his face, a total mirror image of Gwen's happy expression. They both picked up their sword hilts and watched as the blue blades grew from them. Arthur must have seen this happen a million times but it never stopped amazing him every time. He had never bothered to ask how they were forged. All he knew was that they looked fantastic.

As they began to spar, Arthur was suddenly glad that Lance was around. He was so good that Arthur didn't have to think about his moves, just act. Normally he would analyse every move with precision but today he was filled with anger and he didn't know why, which really only added to that white hot rage he was feeling. All he wanted to do was fight.

After a while, Lance stopped smiling. His movements got slower and his tanned face was beaded with sweat. Arthur wasn't tired at all. Arthur tried to perform a tricky feint, only to see that it was about to be blocked by Lance's sword. In that second, a picture flashed up in front of his eyes.

Merlin lying on the bed, fast asleep. He had looked so innocent, like a little pre-schooler with sticky out ears, messy hair and vaguely smiling in his sleep underneath a dragon bed spread. Literally, the picture of innocence.

And then you saw those bruises. They were all over his chest and his back like grey little leeches sucking all the healthy colour from Merlin's ivory skin. Arthur was sure that if he had taken of his trousers there would be even more all over his legs and feet.

It wasn't fair.

Merlin hadn't done anything to deserve that.

And Merlin had only gotten sicker because he had been protecting Arthur from Mordred.

And in the background, he could hear his father's voice: _Magic killed your mother, Arthur. Never forget that. Never forget that magic leads to the suffering of the innocent. _

With a mental bellow of rage, Arthur knocked his blade into Lance's hand with such force, that Lance let go off his sword and it spun across the room before becoming lodged in the wall. Lance's face was so confused that Arthur wanted to take a picture. But Arthur probably looked the same way. For a moment they both looked at the blue sword lodged in the concrete.

Then Lance said, "Something wrong, mate?" Arthur shook his head.

"Just kind of tense, I guess," he said. He was still staring at the sword but when he looked back he saw that Lance was looking at him strangely. "Can I help you?" Arthur grunted tensely. He wasn't used to people looking at him without being able to guess what they were thinking.

Lance shook his head grimly. "I've never seen anyone fight like that," he said, "It was almost like you had magic." Arthur laughed. His father would have a fit. Uther wasn't very supportive of magic (which was extremely ironic but quite typical of government officials) and had blown a gasket when he found out that Morgana was a Seer. Arthur couldn't imagine how he would have reacted if Arthur had magic.

"Come on," Arthur said, rolling his eyes, "Let's get a Coke. I don't know about you but I'm tired."

"No thanks," said Lance, still not smiling, "I've got to go find Gwen." The two men looked at each other. Even though they had been friends for most of their lives, for that second, they were strangers. And Arthur wasn't sure what was wrong.

Arthur nodded. "Tell her I said hi." Then he left without another word.

Arthur was going to head to the vending machine to get a Coke. He was. But unfortunately Arthur wasn't lucky enough to get there.

A wave of nausea hit Arthur as soon as he left the gym. His vision blurred and his balance disappeared. Suddenly Arthur felt like he was on a tightrope with two gigantic weights attached to both of his arms. He groaned and lent against the doorframe. He waited for it to pass. Arthur knew that it wouldn't take long. He knew that he had to run for Morgana's room.

He had lived this nightmare before.

Arthur clutched his stomach, willing himself not to pass out. If the blackness got to him before he reached Morgana anyone could find him. Anyone could tell Uther that he wasn't fine. And if Uther found out...

The nausea stopped and Arthur started to move. Unfortunately the dizziness wouldn't go away. Arthur stumbled along the corridor like he was drunk, desperately searching for Morgana's laboratory.

He almost made it.

Arthur collapsed in front of Morgana's lab like a truck full of bricks. The shadows stalked his vision. The door opened and there was a gasp. Arthur could hear a crashing noise.

And then he saw two pairs of shoes: a pair of Morgana's high heels and a pair of Gaius's loafers. Arthur groaned.

"Why did it have to be Gaius?" he thought. Then he blacked out.

* * *

**Thanks for reading.**

**PS I'm not sure why Arthur knows everyone's shoes but hey! It's fanfiction, the home of stalker chickens. Anything is possible.**


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